_edited.png)
Today, we are going to talk about sports that are not considered as such in the eyes of some peoples.
And to begin the debate, I think it would be good to start with the very definition of the word “sport” 👩🏫: “all physical activities in the form of individual or group games, usually involving competition, practiced in accordance with specific rules”. Of course, I did not invent anything; this is a definition straight out of the Larousse.
Now what exactly are we talking about ? Since there are still a number to mention, and since I promised to be brief this summer, I will just give you three examples:
⛳ Golf:
I think it’s pretty obvious that golf is a sport. Because certainly some people will talk about carts that make that golfers do not especially need to make a considerable physical effort to move, which means (even if some do the ride on foot and find themselves at the end of the ride with a few km in their legs). However, beyond walking, let’s not forget that hitting the ball, the swing 🏌️, requires an effort of the abs, the back, the forearms, as well as the shoulders (and many others). That’s why golfers have to warm up by doing a few exercises, before starting their course. Balance and coordination are also part of the game, which helps to prevent falls that can be encountered after a certain age.
♟️ Chess:
Some people will say that it's not a sport, because it does not require significant physical effort to move pieces or press a timer ⏲️. But if you take a closer look… Studies have shown that during a tournament, participants can lose up to 1 kg per day, due to constant mental stress.
Some games can last for hours, so endurance is also important here; and that’s why players, before a tournament, undergo physical and mental preparation.
Since 1999, chess has been considered a sport.
🖥️ E-sport:
I think I saved the best for last. This example is a bit like the intruder of the group, because today, e-sport is still not considered as a sport, which is also increasingly debated. We might wonder why 🤔, given that chess has been admitted into sports. So I think there are two main reasons for that.
The first in my opinion would be that the e-sport enjoys a more or less “bad image”, in the sense that we always have the cliché vision of gamers sitting in front of a screen, to consume junk food all day long and to focus “stupidly” on their mouse 🖱️ or controller 🎮. But just like chess, e-sport calls for brain performance, with a little more than chess, involving physical injuries (we are talking here about carpal tunnel syndrome in particular).
The second reason relates to the part of the definition that refers to “specific rules” observed by activities considered to be sports. The concern of e-sport is that each video game has its own format and its own rules, which becomes a puzzle for the uniformity of rules. Added, to the fact that video games in competition have a different lifespan. Some are present only since a few years, while others settle for decades.
However, with all the money 💰 that is currently available in the e-sport community, there is no doubt that its status will change in the years to come.
We would already talk about integrating it in the Olympic Games (I mentioned it in a post on Insta, if you want to take a look).
So of course, I could have gone on and on 🗣️ and talked to you about a lot of other sports that some people can’t see as such, but I have a board game night waiting for me.